AMERICA’S TEACHERS ON AMERICA’S SCHOOLS

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AMERICA’S TEACHERS ON AMERICA’S SCHOOLS

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PRIMARY SOURCES:

A PROJECT OF SCHOLASTIC AND THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

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This report is a collaboration of Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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We all remember at least one teacher who made us think, who challenged us, who encouraged us, who prepared us for tomorrow and who helped to make us the person we are today.

Teachers play a critical role in students’ academic achievement, in our workforce’s skills and in our nation’s future. They dedicate their lives to educating, inspiring and preparing today’s youth for life beyond high school and yet, according to the 2010 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, 69% of teachers believe that their voices are not heard in the debate on education. The goal of Primary Sources is to place the views of our nation’s public school teachers at the center of the discussion on education reform. As our nation grapples with how to dramatically improve student academic achievement, we must ask ourselves—if teachers are left out of the conversation on school reform, can the movement ultimately succeed?

When Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reached out to teachers with a blind questionnaire on American education, more than 40,000 of them responded, making this a landmark undertaking—what we believe is the largest-ever national survey of America’s teachers. We heard from educators in every state and at every grade level. We heard from those who teach in one-room schools in rural communities, in afﬂuent suburbs and in large, urban districts. We heard from teachers in classrooms with children who are learning English, those with gifted students and those with children who have special needs. Indeed, the diversity and variety of our surveyed teachers reﬂects the challenge and opportunity inherent in addressing policy for America’s schools.

We asked teachers about the state of American education—about the challenges facing students and the variety of supports and tools that teachers need to tackle those challenges. The response was overwhelming, conﬁrming what we have always known to be true: that teachers are fully engaged in the hard work of educating our children; that they have strong ideas on how best to raise student achievement; and that they are vocal advocates for students, with thoughtful opinions on education reform, rooted in the realities of the classroom. They have powerful views on a number of issues that are central to the conversation around American schools—from performance pay and standardized tests to academic standards and teacher tenure.

Public school teachers were nearly unanimous in telling us that a high school diploma simply is not enough for today’s students: 93% of teachers say that schools must prepare students for more than high school graduation. At the same time, 9 in 10 teachers say that not all of their students could leave high school prepared to succeed in a 2– 4-year college. Indeed, they are not far off—according to Education Week’s

A LETTER FROM SCHOLASTIC AND

THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

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2009 Diploma’s Count, less than 70% of American high school students graduate from high school and, of those who do, far too many are unprepared for the rigors of higher education and today’s workplace.

Citing this disconnect, teachers identified five ways that we can address the challenges facing today’s schools and ensure that all students achieve at their highest level:

1. Establish Clear Standards, Common Across States — Teachers see the role standards can play in preparing students for their future, but want clearer standards and core standards that are the same across all states. Nationwide, 74% of teachers say that clearer standards would make a strong or very strong impact on student achievement, with only 4% saying they would have no impact at all.

60% of teachers say that common standards would have a strong or very strong impact on student achievement, with only 10% saying that they would have no impact at all.

2. Use Multiple Measures to Evaluate Student Performance — From ongoing assessments throughout the year to student participation in individual classes, teachers are clear that these day-to-day assessments are a more reliable way to measure student performance than one-shot standardized tests. Ninety-two percent of teachers say ongoing in-classroom assessment is either very important or absolutely essential in measuring student performance, while only 27% say the same of state- required standardized tests.

3. Innovate to Reach Today’s Students — To keep today’s students engaged in learning, teachers recognize that it is essential for instruction to be tailored to individual students’ skills and interests.

More than 90% of teachers say that differentiated assignments are absolutely essential or very important for improving student achievement and engaging students in learning. Also, showing a clear understanding of the world students inhabit outside of school, 81% of teachers say that up-to- date information-based technology that is well integrated into the classroom is absolutely essential or very important in impacting student achievement.

4. Accurately Measure Teacher Performance and Provide Non-Monetary Rewards — Teachers are skeptical of current measures of teacher performance, with only 22% indicating that principal observation is a very accurate measure. At the same time, more than half of teachers indicate that student academic growth (60%) and student engagement (55%) are very accurate measures of teacher performance—much more so than teacher tenure, which a significant number of teachers said is not at all accurate. When asked about teacher retention, nearly all teachers say that non-monetary rewards like supportive leadership and collaborative working environments are the most important factors to retaining good teachers. Fewer than half of teachers say higher salaries are absolutely essential for retaining good teachers and only 8% say pay for performance is absolutely essential.

5. Bridge School and Home to Raise Student Achievement — Teachers know what is necessary to build a sustainable culture of achievement in their schools: the right mix of academic instruction, family support and student engagement. Eight in 10 high school teachers (81%) attend after-school and weekend events of their students, and more than half (51%) of elementary school teachers are

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willing to have parent-teacher conferences at students’ homes. This report breaks down the above data and much more, revealing the diverse opinions of America’s teachers. Teachers’ strong but nuanced views on education are called out, particularly across teacher characteristics in two key dimensions: grade level taught and the length of time they have been teaching. Similarly, state-level data reflecting teachers’ views on education policy and practice are discussed where interesting differences were found. The data tables in the appendix of the report further segment the findings by state and grade level. The quotes throughout reflect the wide range of views of the tens of thousands of teachers who participated in the survey and focus groups.

It is important to note that despite the added challenges for teachers in low-income communities, there is little difference between their views on these solutions and the views of their peers in high-income communities. The message from Primary Sources is clear—a good school is a good school for all children, regardless of income level.

While the report reﬂects the wide range of voices and opinions of teachers across the country, one thing is constant: teachers teach for the love of their students and the chance to make a difference in those young lives. Throughout this survey, we heard teachers declare their commitment to developing the potential of each and every child. Our goal as a nation should be to do all we can to support them in this endeavor.

Primary Sources is the beginning of an ongoing dialogue with America’s Teachers; we are already planning the next step in this important exchange of ideas. We welcome your thoughts and opinions on the report at www.scholastic.com/primarysources.

Sincerely,

Margery Mayer Vicki L. Phillips

President, Scholastic Education Director of Education, College Ready

Scholastic Inc. United States Program

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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OBJECTIVES

• Place teachers’ voices at the center of discourse around education reform by sharing their thoughts and opinions with the public, the media and education leaders through the largest-ever survey of teachers in American public schools.

• Identify various supports and tools that directly impact teachers’ ability to improve student achievement and help students to realize their full potential.

• Explore teachers’ views on academic standards and assessments for measuring student and teacher performance.

• Accurately represent the diverse and nuanced opinions of America’s teachers — highlighting their powerful, complex ideas about both the challenges of preparing children for success and the solutions to those challenges.

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METHODOLOGY

Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on America’s Schools consisted of several research phases, culminating in what is believed to be the largest-ever national survey of more than 40,000 public school classroom teachers.

Phase 1: Foundational Research with Many Stakeholders

Focus Groups with Teachers — October 2008

Twelve in-person focus groups were conducted with 108 K–12 teachers in Schaumburg, Ill., and Fort Lee, N.J. (four groups with elementary school teachers, four groups with middle school teachers and four groups with high school teachers). In addition, in-depth follow-up interviews were conducted with several of the teachers who had participated in the focus groups. Throughout this report, when we use the phrases “in conversation” or “in conversations with teachers,” we are speciﬁcally referencing information and insights gleaned from the teachers we spoke with as part of this foundational research.

In-Depth Interviews with Education Stakeholders — November 2008

To build on focus-group research and ensure that we were moving in the right direction, in-depth interviews were conducted with K–12 education experts, including education policy leaders and advocates, educational researchers, public school administrators and teachers.

Phase 2: National Survey

The national survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, utilized telephone, mail-to-Web and email-to- Web survey methods to ensure the inclusion of the broadest and best representation of teachers. The list of teachers was sourced from Market Data Retrieval’s (MDR) database of public school teachers.

The survey was conducted by telephone (15,038 participated in the survey by telephone) and online (25,452 participated in the survey online) from mid-March to mid-June 2009 among 40,490 preK–12 public school classroom teachers.¹

The sponsors of the research were not revealed to respondents. Respondents were incented to participate with a gift certiﬁcate to an online education store, which was revealed to be the Scholastic Teacher Store Online only after they completed the survey.

1 Public school teachers who teach full-time in the classroom in grades preK-12, excluding those who teach physical education exclusively.

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Figures were weighted where necessary for gender, years of teaching experience, school level, region and urbanicity to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for any attitudinal/behavioral biases inherent in the sample of those who responded in each mode (telephone or online).

Throughout this report, we display data on teachers who teach in mutually exclusive grade ranges, the most common being elementary, middle and high school grades. Speciﬁcally:

• “Elementary school teachers” are teachers who teach grades K–5 and no other grades (except preK).

• “Middle school teachers” are teachers who teach grades 6–8 and no other grades.

• “High school teachers” are teachers who teach grades 9–12 and no other grades.

Creating mutually exclusive groups allows for a more straightforward comparison between teachers and, when the groups are based on common ranges such as the ones described previously, the vast majority of teachers are captured in one of these three mutually exclusive groups.

Additionally, certain terms were deﬁned in the actual survey to ensure that teachers were responding with a clear and consistent understanding of the topic. These included:

• “By academic achievement we mean your students’ preparedness for the next level of education.”

• “By student performance data we mean things such as performance on class assignments, class participation and performance on standardized tests, etc.”

NOTE: In some cases, percentages may not sum to 100%, due to rounding and small no-answer rates.

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THE CHALLENGE

Teachers overwhelmingly agree that a high school diploma is not enough to prepare students for success in a changing world. Teachers understand the unprecedented challenges facing this generation, and they recognize the disconnect between students’ current levels of achievement and the levels at which they must perform to achieve success in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Teachers Are Concerned that Students Are Not Adequately Prepared for College and Careers

When asked to choose the single most important goal of schools and teaching from a list of four possible goals, nearly all teachers (93%) — regardless of the grades they currently teach — say that schools must prepare students for more than high school graduation.

Teachers’ Views on the Most Important Goal of Schools and Teaching Total %

More than a high school diploma (NET) 93

To prepare all students so they are ready for careers in the 21^st Century 71 To prepare all students to be successful in a 2- or 4-year college 11 To provide all students with life skills such as managing a bank account,

applying for a job and understanding a mortgage 11 To graduate all students with a high school diploma 6

In conversation, teachers are quick to address the complexities of this goal. They understand the shifting social and economic landscape of the 21^st Century: students need rigorous, relevant curricula; they need to go on to college; and, most importantly, they need to be prepared to face the unknown challenges of the future.

“Internationally, we are competing for jobs and careers.

We need to be more aware of what the world needs, and start thinking globally. I think the educational system is totally missing out on just how interconnected we are.”

— HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER

“What’s going to happen to these kids in college?

I don’t know if they can make it.”

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“College isn’t the way for everyone.

My students want so much more for themselves, but they don’t want college. I think we do students a huge disservice by offering only college-prep education.”

Teachers recognize and are concerned about the disconnect between the level of preparedness students will need to succeed in the future and the actual level of achievement that those students currently reach. Their concerns are grounded in the realities teachers face every day: Only 16% of teachers “agree strongly” that students enter their classroom prepared for on-grade-level work. Only 28% rate student achievement at their school as “excellent.” And, while 79% of secondary school students plan to attend a 2- or 4-year college after high school,² only about half of teachers think that 75% or more of their students could leave high school prepared to succeed in a 2- or 4-year college. Only 9% of teachers say that all of their students could leave high school prepared to succeed in a 2- or 4-year college.

Teachers’ Views on Student Achievement and Preparedness

Q. How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

Q. Overall how would you rate student academic achievement at your school?

Q. In your view, what percentage of the students currently in your classes could leave high school prepared to succeed in a 2- or a 4-year college?

Agreement with Statement:

“In general, students enter my classroom prepared for on-grade-level work.”

Rating of Student Academic Achievement at their School

Percentage of Current Students Who Teachers Believe Could Leave High School Prepared to Succeed in a 2- or 4-year College

Disagree strongly

Agree strongly Agree somewhat Disagree somewhat

Poor

Excellent Good Fair

Under 25% of students

Over 75% of students 51-75% of students 26-50% of students 14%

44%

26%

16%

3%

50%

19%

28%

9%

26%

17%

46%

2 The Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher, 2000: Are We Preparing Students for the 21^st Century.

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Challenges Grow as Students Move from Elementary to Middle to High School

According to the teachers surveyed, levels of academic achievement and potential college success drop dramatically from elementary to middle school, with levels falling even lower in high school — a trend that is mirrored in data from research on student achievement, literacy rates and graduation rates. A number of factors are likely to contribute to this trend, not the least of which is time. In conversation, teachers of older students express concern that there is simply too narrow a window of time in which they can tackle the challenges facing their students.

Teachers’ Views on Student Achievement and Preparedness (by grade taught)

Rate student academic achievement at your school as excellent

Believe over 75% of students in current classes could leave HS prepared to succeed in a 2- or 4-year college Q. In your view, what percentage of the students currently in your classes could leave high school prepared to succeed in a 2- or 4- year college?

Strongly agree that in general, students enter my classroom prepared for on-grade-level work

Elementary School Middle School High School

18% 14% 12%

34%

23% 19%

52%

38% 38%

“We need better intervention in the primary grades.

First and second.

By fifth and sixth grade, it’s too late.”

— MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER

“I can only do the best I can, especially by the time they are seniors. I can’t re-teach them English.”

“If we don’t

convince students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades that education is important, they’re going to tune us out and move on.”

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“Regardless of their background, students have the opportunity to achieve through education. Treat all students equally, provide high-quality teaching, have

high expectations and students will succeed.”

“With low-income students, you have to celebrate your wins and mourn your losses quickly.”

— ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER

Challenges in Low-Income Communities Are More Severe

It is well documented that teachers in low-income communities are faced with some of the most signiﬁcant challenges in American education. Among teachers who teach in low-income communities (those with median household incomes under $40,000), about 40% teach in urban areas and 40% teach in rural areas/small towns. While the challenges across these communities are unique, teachers in low-income areas are working against inherent social and economic inequities to ensure success for their students.

Due in part to these inequities, achievement and college-preparedness measures vary dramatically according to the median household incomes of the communities in which teachers teach. A comparison of low- and high-income schools points to stark differences in teachers’ perceptions of their students’ ability to meet the challenges of the 21^st Century.

Speciﬁcally, teachers in low-income schools are about:

• One-third as likely as teachers in high-income schools to agree strongly that their students enter class ready for on-grade-level work;

• One-third as likely to rate student academic achievement at their schools as excellent; and

• Half as likely to say that more than three-quarters of their students could leave high school ready for postsecondary school success.

The response of teachers in low-income communities reﬂects the startling reality of our most underserved schools — 50% of students in low-income communities will not graduate from high school by the time they are 18 years old,³ and, of the 13 million children growing up in poverty, only 1 in 10 will graduate from college.⁴

3 “Diplomas Count,” Editorial Projects in Education (Education Week), 2007.

4 Mortensen, Tom. “Family Income and Higher Education Opportunity,” Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 2005 with updated data from 2006.

59% of teachers—

regardless of school income level—believe that high expectations for students are either absolutely essential or very important in impacting student achievement.

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“Regardless of how the students come in, it’s our job to pick up and do the best that we can.”

—MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER

“You can be a good teacher no matter where you teach.

You can reach kids no matter where they come from.”

—HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER

Teachers’ Views on Student Achievement and Preparedness (by schools median household income)

Rate student academic achievement at your school as excellent

Believe over 75% of students in current classes could leave HS prepared to succeed in 2- or 4-year college Q. In your view, what percentage of the students currently in your classes could leave high school prepared to succeed in a 2- or 4-year college?

Strongly agree that in general, students enter my classroom prepared for on-grade-level work

<$40K $40K-$49.9K $50K-$69.9K $70K+

16%

10% 12%

27% 29%

23%

18%

50% 49%

36%39%

64%

At the State Level, Teachers’ Views on Achievement and Preparedness Vary Widely, Largely Aligned with the Nation’s Report Card

There is signiﬁcant diversity among teachers at the state level across the three measures of student academic achievement and preparedness indicated above. Averages at the high end of the response range for student preparedness for on-grade-level work and for overall student academic achievement are more than double the average response rates at the low end of each range. There is less diversity around the percentage of students who teachers think could leave high school ready to succeed in college, but the range is still wide enough to be signiﬁcant.

When considering the high and low ends of each of these three measures of achievement and preparedness, the differences become even more clear.

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“I visited a nearby university, and the professors told me half of the students who take Freshman Comp (which is a required class) fail it and have to take it again.”

Teachers’ Views on Student Achievement and Preparedness (by state)

Strongly agree that “In general, students enter my classroom prepared for on-grade-level work.”

Rate student academic achievement at school as “excellent”

Percentage of current students teachers believe could leave high school prepared to succeed in a 2- or 4-year college

HIGH END

IA MA ND NH NJ PA

Average: 23%

KS MN MT ND NH SD

Average: 38%

MA ND NJ SD VT

Average: 76.2%

LOW END

AK DE HI MS NC NM

Average: 9%

AK DE HI NV WV

Average: 15%

AK HI LA NV WV

Average: 61.9%

Q. Overall, how would you rate student academic achievement at your school?

Q. In your view, what percentage of the students currently in your classes could leave high school prepared to succeed in a 2- or 4-year college?

NOTE: The states with the five highest and five lowest numbers are shown in alphabetical order. In some cases, there are more than five states listed because responses from several states were tied.

At the state level, teachers’ perceptions of their students’ academic achievement align with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores for math and reading at the fourth- and eighth-grade levels. The states that receive the highest ratings according to the perceptions of teachers within those states tend to have higher-than- average NAEP scores. Conversely, those that receive low ratings among teachers tend to be at the lower end of NAEP scores.⁵

5 Additional state-level views on student achievement can be found in Appendix B.

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Teachers Who Teach Exclusively 11^th and 12^th Grade Students Report Higher Levels of Achievement and Preparedness among Those Students

An interesting dynamic occurs during high school in terms of teachers’ views on achievement and preparedness; ratings on both factors increase among those teachers who teach only 11^th and/or 12^th grade, versus those who teach only 9^th and/or 10^th grade.

• Half of exclusively 9^th–10^th-grade teachers (49%) report that students enter their classroom prepared for on-grade-level work. This is higher among exclusively 11^th–12^th-grade teachers, at 60%.

• One-third of exclusively 9^th–10^th-grade teachers (32%) say that at least

three-quarters of their students could leave high school prepared to succeed in college. This rises to nearly half (45%) of exclusively 11^th–12^th-grade teachers.

While it is important to note that teachers who teach only 11^th- and 12^th-grade students are more likely to be veteran teachers and teach subjects that typically include more elective coursework, it is likely that this trend is also impacted by lower-performing students dropping out of high school before the 11^th grade.

“Our student population takes a massive dip between ninth and eleventh grades, and then it levels.

If I’m 16, and there’s no way I’m going to college when I graduate high school, what’s going to keep me in college-preparatory coursework for the next two years?”

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SOLUTION 1:

Establish Clear Standards, Common Across States

Teachers recognize the role of academic standards⁶ in improving student academic achievement and helping students prepare for college, careers and life in the 21^st Century. There is strong support among teachers for making standards clearer than they currently are and many say that common standards across states would have a strong impact on improving student academic achievement. Additionally, there is support for tougher standards, particularly among high school teachers.

Teachers Value the Role Academic Standards Can Play in Improving Achievement

There is broad acceptance among teachers of the impact academic standards can have on improving student academic achievement. A vast majority say that having clearer academic standards (95%), establishing common standards across states (90%) and having tougher academic standards (85%) would make at least a moderate impact on improving academic achievement:

Teachers’ Views on the Impact that Changes to Current Standards Would Have on Improving Academic Achievement

Strong impact

Very strong impact Moderate impact No impact at all

100

(%) 0 20 40 60 80

Clearer academic standards for students

The establishment of common standards across all states

Tougher academic standards for students

Fewer academic standards for students

Q. How much of an impact do you believe the following efforts would have on improving student academic achievement?

30 43 22 4

24 35 31 10

13 32 40 14

11 23 36 28

“We owe students a

consistency across their education.”

“Standards are about equity and expectation.”

“Students need to have high standards and they need to know what those standards are. They need to know what they will be held accountable for.”

6 Academic standards set forth educational goals in terms of what students should know and what skills they should have in order to succeed in school and beyond. Current standards vary from state to state.

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“Nationalized education

standards would provide a level playing field for all teachers and learners. Common assessments and collaboration on a professional level would blossom because the goals would be clear to everyone.”

Teachers are less inclined (although it is still a majority) to favor fewer standards, with 71% of teachers saying that fewer academic standards would make a moderate or greater impact on improving academic performance and 28% saying it would make no impact at all. In conversations, teachers express concern that “fewer standards” might mean a “less rigorous” or “less comprehensive” curriculum.

Note that when the more stringent measure of “very strong” or “strong” impact on improving academic achievement is considered, nearly 3 in 4 teachers (74%) favor clearer standards and about 6 in 10 (60%) favor standards common across states.

Tougher standards drops to just under half of all teachers (45%) while fewer standards drops to 1 in 3 (34%). In step with 59% of teachers believing that common standards across states would strongly impact achievement, 52% of teachers think the same of common assessments across states.

Teachers’ Views on Standards Shift as Students Progress in Grade Level

As the grade level they teach increases, teachers are more likely to say tougher standards would improve student achievement and less likely to say that common standards would do the same.

Speciﬁcally, 57% of high school teachers say tougher academic standards would make a strong/very strong impact on improving student achievement — this is about 20%

higher than the percentage of elementary school teachers who say the same. However, high school teachers are signiﬁcantly less likely (46% compared to 66% of elementary school teachers and 59% of middle school teachers) to say that establishing common standards across states would improve achievement.

59% of teachers think standards common across states would have a strong or very strong impact on improving student achievement.

52% say the same of common assessments across states.

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Teachers’ Views on Changes to Standards as Having a Very Strong/Strong Impact on Improving Academic Achievement (by grade taught)

Elementary School Middle School High School

Clearer academic standards for students

Tougher academic standards for students

Fewer academic standards for students The establishment of

standards common across all states 76% 73%

68% 66%

59%

46%

39%

49%

57%

37% 34%

28%

In conversations, high school teachers are keenly aware of the burden of preparing students for postsecondary education. Some think that having students exposed to tougher standards throughout elementary and secondary school would result in students being better prepared for the next level of their education.

“I’m not really sure about common standards...I think it’s important for communities to decide for themselves what their kids learn.”

“You have to have flexibility so that when a teachable moment comes up, you don’t feel guilty about taking the time. I felt guilty every time I talked about the presidential election because my students were not being tested on it. It’s not in the curriculum.”

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“My first eight years of teaching, there were no state standards.

Standards have given me a lot of direction, but to be honest, it was more fun to teach

without standards.”

Teachers’ Views on Their Own State Standards Vary

The number of and clarity of current state standards is problematic for many teachers.

Fifty percent say their states have too many standards and 54% say their state’s standards are not clear enough. While both of these measures are consistent across grades taught, they are not consistent across states, particularly with regard to the number of state standards.

This disparity might help to explain the broad desire of teachers nationwide for common standards that might mitigate the vast inter-state differences in clarity, number and rigor of state standards.

Teachers’ Views on Own State’s Standards

Think their state has too many standards Agree with statement: “My state’s

standards are not clear enough.” Think their state’s standards are too low

HIGH END

CA HI IN KY MI OH

Average: 63%

HI KY ME MT NM

Average: 67%

AK AZ ID NV TN

Average: 25%

LOW END

AL IA MS MT ND UT

Average: 31%

CA KS MD VA VT

Average: 44%

AR MI CA MN DE MO HI RI IN SC

Average: 7%

Q. Do you think your state has too many standards, the right amount of standards or too few standards?

Q. How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “My state’s standards are not clear enough”?

Q. Do you think your state’s standards are too high, about right or too low?

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“There are so many state standards that you can’t possibly get students to mastery in any topic because you are so rushed to get to all the standards. We are trying to dabble in everything instead of concentrating.”

Each state has a different “starting place” when it comes to the type, volume and clarity of the standards they already have. When considering teachers’ views on standard reforms at the state level, teachers across states differ on the degree to which they believe different kinds of reforms would improve student academic achievement.⁷

Teachers’ Views on Changes to Standards as Having a Very Strong/Strong Impact on Improving Academic Achievement (by state)

Clearer academic standards Common standards across

all states Tougher academic standards Fewer academic standards

HIGH END

FL GA KY MS NM WY

Average: 82%

FL GA KY MS SC

Average: 73%

KY MD MS NE WV

Average: 55%

CA GA HI KY SC WV

Average: 44%

LOW END

AK CA IN ND PA SD VA VT

Average: 67%

IA ME MT NE VT WI

Average: 47%

CA HI IN OH VT WA

Average: 37%

IA ID IL ME MT OK RI

Average: 27%

7 Additional state-level views on standards can be found in Appendices C & D.

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“Where are the standards coming from? If we’re going to move toward common standards then we need people with real classroom expertise to create them.”

“Shrink the standards. It’s ridiculous.”

“We’re teaching standards and we should be teaching students.”

Proponents of “Clearer, Common, Higher Standards”

S P O T L I G H T O N :

With standards so central to the conversation around education reform, it is critical to include the teacher voice on this important issue. Since teachers’ top three most supported efforts regarding standards include creating clearer, common and higher (or tougher) standards, we examined the 27% of teachers who say that all three of these categories would have a strong or very strong impact on improving student academic achievement (“Proponents”). These teachers were compared to the 12% of teachers who say all three would have “moderate” or “no impact at all” in improving student achievement (“Non-proponents”).

Proponents and Non-proponents of clearer, common, higher standards generally do not differ by the grades they teach or the level of their current students’ academic achievement.

Nor do they differ according to the length of time they have been teaching.

Proponents of clearer, common, higher standards differ from Non-proponents in several key ways: they are more likely to embrace the use of technology in the classroom and they are far more likely to use student performance data in a variety of ways to improve student instruction.

Speciﬁcally:

• Proponents of clearer, common and higher standards are more likely than are Non-proponents to state that up-to-date information-based technology that is well integrated into the classroom has a strong/very strong impact on improving student academic achievement (90% vs. 55%).

• Proponents of clearer, common and higher standards are more likely than are Non-proponents to use student performance data very often to adjust their teaching.

(25)

“Every other developed nation has an idea of what their students should look like

— good or bad, at least they have a vision. We don’t have a vision for students; we want them to be better, but we don’t know what ‘better’ is.”

“Make standards few, but make them really rigorous.”

Teachers Who Use Student Performance Data for Various Instructional Purposes Very Often (by support for clearer, higher and common standards)

Non-proponents Proponents

Q. How often do you use student performance data for each of the following instructional purposes?

Base: Online sample Alter your lesson plans

Discuss a student’s performance with the student and/or the student's parents

Discuss a student’s performance with other teachers in your school

Assess students’

progress compared to their prior-year academic performance

Compare students’

performance to that of other students in your school or district 57%

68%

56%

69%

35%

48%

20%

36%

18%

32%

Proponents also have different opinions on their own state’s standards and are more likely than Non-proponents to think that statewide testing is of great importance in measuring student achievement.

Speciﬁcally:

• Proponents are more likely to say their own state’s standards are too low (19% vs. 7%), and that their state’s standards are not clear enough (54% vs.

48%). Interestingly, they are less likely to say that their state has too many standards (43% vs. 55%).

• Proponents see statewide testing as more relevant in measuring student achievement than do Non-proponents. Even among Proponents, however, only 39% (vs. 15% of Non-proponents) say that state-required tests are absolutely essential/very important in measuring student academic achievement.

(26)

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(27)

“District-required tests help. They make teachers accountable.”

“I like benchmark testing at the beginning, middle and end of the year.

The results are something concrete to show parents.”

SOLUTION 2:

Use Multiple Measures to Evaluate Student Performance

While teachers value the role standards play in improving academic achievement, they are very clear that standardized tests should not be the sole measure of student achievement. Rather, they say assessment should be driven by classroom experiences including formative, ongoing assessments during class, performance on class assignments and class participation. Having clear measures of student achievement is critical to teachers; they rely on student performance data to innovate and differentiate instruction in a variety of ways.

Teachers Say that Ongoing Assessment Is the Most Important Measure of Student Achievement

Teachers indicate that formative, ongoing assessments during class, along with class participation and performance on class assignments, are the most important measures of student achievement. Assessments that are scored and discussed by teams of teachers are seen as being less important — but are still viewed as far more important than state- or district-required tests.

Teachers’ Views on Importance of Student Performance Measures

Very important Absolutely essential

Not at all important Do not use this

Somewhat Important

100

(%) 0 20 40 60 80

Formative, ongoing assessment during class Class participation Performance on class assignments Assessments scored and discussed by teams of teachers District-required tests Data from software programs State-required standardized tests Tests from basal textbooks

Q. In your opinion, how important is each of the following in measuring students’ academic achievement?

54 47 37 27 6 6 6 3

38 42 51 42 25

23 21 20

8 11 11

24 2 5

53

10 10 54

52 12 12

16 3 51

11 5

As is the case with

common standards across states, elementary school teachers are most likely to see common assessments as contributing to student achievement: 58%

of elementary teachers say having common assessments across states would make a strong or very strong impact in improving academic achievement vs.

50% of middle school and only 38%^{of high}

school teachers.

(28)

Teachers see value in standardized tests — there are only 16% and 11% who say state- and district-required tests, respectively, are “not at all important” in measuring student academic achievement. They also see a role for common assessments across states. As previously noted, 52% think common assessments across states would make a strong or very strong impact on improving academic achievement.

Teachers’ Views on Standardized Tests as Absolutely Essential/Very Important in Measuring Academic Achievement (by state)

District-required standardized tests State-required standardized tests

HIGH END

LA MO MS TX WY

Average: 39%

GA TN

HI TX

KY LA MS

Average: 35%

LOW END

AK HI ME NV WV

Average: 19%

AK PA

CO WV

DE WY

IN ME

Average: 19%

Q. In your opinion, how important is each of the following in measuring students’ academic achievement?

Teachers Rely on Student Performance Data for Instruction

Teachers use performance data for: Instruction, which can include adjusting instruction on a class-wide or individual level, or pinpointing which students need intervention; as a platform for Discussion about student performance with students and parents and when collaborating with other teachers; and, to a much lesser extent, for Monitoring student and classroom progress.

“Not all my students have to get A’s and B’s but if I see improvement from the first to the third test, that makes me feel successful.

I celebrate any improvement that my students make.”

“I look at how my students have improved over the course of the year

— not at what level they are at.”

AMERICA’S TEACHERS ON AMERICA’S SCHOOLS